Celtics: “We have total faith in Ray”

‘I don’t need to say nothing to Ray,’ Paul Pierce[4] said after practice on Saturday. ‘Ray knows what he needs to do. I mean Ray’s been in the league long enough. We have total faith in Ray. There’s nothing wrong with him.’

Allen is averaging 11.5 points per game in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, down from 23 points in the first round. He is shooting just 14% from three-point range, including an 0-7 performance in Game 6. Allen has been held to a total of 22 points in the Celtics three losses.

Still Allen is unfazed by the buzz surrounding his battles at the basket. He does not watch television and chalks the hype up to the scrutiny of playoff basketball.

‘I’ll tell you what, every shot that I take is good. Every shot that I put up there, it always looks good to me,” Allen said. “For the last second, you see the ball rolling around the rim and sometimes it toilet bowls and it goes down and sometimes it pops out, and you just, you never know until that ball goes all the way through. So I’ll be making sure the ball goes all the way through tomorrow.’

‘We’ve survived other games in this series with Ray struggling. Even if Ray’s not making shots, he still has a tremendous value for us,’ Rivers said. ‘He’s going to make shots tomorrow. I do feel good about that. If Patrick Ewing[7] can guarantee a win, I can guarantee that Ray will make shots tomorrow.’